5 ms·

This is one story I always enjoy when it is brought up.

• ChristianBundy 10y ago
  Me too. Are there any others you could recommend?
  • kirrent 10y ago
    Real programmers don't use PASCAL never fails to crack me up. A bit closer to the grandparent comment is the famous story of Mel. http://web.mit.edu/humor/Computers/real.programmers http://web.mit.edu/humor/Computers/real.programmers https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html
    • nickpsecurity 10y ago
      Real programmers was the funniest shit I've read in a while. Even had jokes embedded in the references like the Lucasfilms one. I needed that laugh. :)
  • dandelany 10y ago
    Some of my favorite hacker folklore: Always Mount a Scratch Monkey http://edp.org/monkey.htm http://edp.org/monkey.htm The Magic Switch https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/magic.html https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/magic.html Quake3's Fast InvSqrt() https://www.beyond3d.com/content/articles/8/ https://www.beyond3d.com/content/articles/8/ The Battle Chess Duck http://blog.codinghorror.com/new-programming-jargon/ http://blog.codinghorror.com/new-programming-jargon/ (#5) and of course, The Story of Mel, a Real Programmer https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html https://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html edit to add: Ford and the $10,000 chalk mark (Ctrl+F Ford) http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-steinmetz-the-wizard-of-schenectady-51912022/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-steinm...
    • frank_jaeger 10y ago
      Big second for Quake's Fast InvSqrt, that is a really cool story.
    • Splines 10y ago
      Another favorite of mine. I won't spoil it, it's an entertaining read: http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/hack/recovery.html http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/hack/recovery.html
      • megablast 10y ago
        That is awful. Surely there was a sign attached saying that this equipment is attached to live Monkeys - not just a "do not remove" sign.
    • marcosdumay 10y ago
      I just love the magic switch. It's so obviously impossible, yet anybody that built complex hardware has seen equally impossible things happen.
      • nickpsecurity 10y ago
        That was so fun and a great prank whether true or not. Like you, I've seen enough oddities to think it's possible. I'm going to challenge two hardware guys I know... one an expert on esoteric stuff. to come up with a way to make that happen. Maybe I'll do it to a RaspPI at a maker space near MIT to screw with them. ;)
      • nibnib 10y ago
        If the case of the switch was connected to the unused terminal it may have served a purpose by connecting signal and chassis grounds. I prefer the idea that it was magic :)
  • zer00eyz 10y ago
    This one too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lp0_on_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lp0_on_fire
    • cyphar 10y ago
      Sometimes Wikipedia does have a sense of humour: > While modern inkjet and laser printers are nowhere near as flammable as their mainframe ancestors,[citation needed].
  • chx 10y ago
    Here's the car allergic to vanilla ice cream. http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/smann/IceCream/humor.html http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/smann/IceCream/humor.html
  • ilyanep 10y ago
    Some more: The disappearing Polish S https://medium.engineering/the-curious-case-of-disappearing-polish-s-fa398313d4df#.l98z5644w https://medium.engineering/the-curious-case-of-disappearing-... System Shock "A story of a 25-year-old font coming back with a vengeance" https://medium.com/designing-medium/system-shock-6b1dc6d6596f#.um2jxylck https://medium.com/designing-medium/system-shock-6b1dc6d6596...
    • ajuc 10y ago
      The fact that Polish language has 2 keyboard layouts installed by default probably costed humanity millions of dollars in wasted time, helpdesk calls, etc. You see - the "typist layout" (the one nobody uses) has "z" and "y" switched. And by default both layouts are enabled, and the shortcut to switch between them is Alt+Space (or Ctrl+Space - I think it changed at some point?). So when you have "z" or "y" in your password and you accidently pressed "alt+space" - your password "stops working". But you won't see why - because it's all stars. So you try 3 times and you have to call helpdesk.
  • teddyh 10y ago
    “COMPUTER-RELATED HORROR STORIES, FOLKLORE, AND ANECDOTES” http://wiretap.area.com/Gopher/Library/Techdoc/Lore/rumor.net http://wiretap.area.com/Gopher/Library/Techdoc/Lore/rumor.ne... “Computer Stupidities” http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/ http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/
    • krylon 10y ago
      Computer stupidities almost gave me a case of fatal hilarity when I first discovered it. Especially the section about smoke is priceless.
  • ersoft 10y ago
    http://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/ http://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/